Seriously, I paid 10 bucks for the original Splinter Cell used and that was a steal, but I can't drop a fifty every other month to play games. Codemasters and their $20-30 dollar games are winning me over, but I'll wait a few months if it means saving that much when the price drops.

Good games don't get worse as time goes by, do they? Even the better Xbox LIve enabled games are still playable if they've been made well - MechAssault, RtCW and the ESPN games are examples of that.

I'm right there with you. I'll continue to buy games both new, and used. In some cases, I'll even buy a used game, that I may not otherwise have considered purchasing, because it happens to be at a lower price point.

Now, Beyond Good & Evil is a bit of an oddity, since it dropped to $19.99 so fast. And, if I had a choice between purchasing it new at $19.99, or used at $17-15.99, I'd of course buy it new (which I did). But there's no way in hell the reason the game sold so poorly is because the people were buying that specific game USED. Blame the marketing dept. on lack of advertising. Hell, I didn't even know about the game until I repeatedly heard of it on the GG boards.

And finally, I'm left to wonder whether the author is blaming the consumer or the retailer? So it's our fault that the retailer pays nothing and gets everything? Sure, they should fork over some of the profits. Bottom line is, though, I'm a consumer. I just want to enjoy the games. I also don't lay golden eggs so I can buy everything ASAP. For some titles, I wait 'till they drop in price, and then buy them.

Here's a counterpoint - since said the retailers are responsible for distributing these games to the consumer, then wouldn't it be a good thing that they get the coinage for used games, so they can expand on their service and not go out of business? Not that I agree with that completely, but...

It's not a full four for one. It's four and get 40 bucks off. I just did it, came in handy, beat a couple of games this weekend and to the store they went.

Logged

"I hate cynicism -- it's my least favorite quality and it doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind amazing things will happen." - Conan O'Brien

The points they make in that article are good ones. The idea has nothing to do with morality though. If you want to buy a used game theres nothing wrong with that. Just know that your money isn't going to the people responsible for making the game and they're not getting any support. If you'd really like to support a game developer's efforts then buy a game new to try and promote sequels and more work from the same hard working people.

The article failed to point out that (at least around here) stores tend to stock way more used games than new ones. I am not always looking for the latest title so I am forced to buy used. an entire wall of the EB in the mall is used PS2, so many that they have bins full of them. There are far more used Xbox than new.

I am sure EB would love to cut out new game sales entirely if they could somehow get away with it. There is so much money to be made in the used trade that they only need new games to entice people into the store. It's not like you can't find a half-dozen copies of even the hottest new title used for $5 less a week after release.

I wouldn't pay $2 less for a used title than a new one, but it's not like I have a choice. My tastes are just too varied to buy one new game when I can get two games that were hot just months ago for the same price. I used to only want new, factory-sealed stuff. Then I got a job and started paying my own bills. Shelling out your own limited income changes that real quick.

The one thing about used games is that I demand a manual. I also check to make sure the disc looks good. So far the only problem I've had is a GBA game with a dead battery. No problem on the exchange. I wouldn't buy a used console, but the companies (except Nintendo) don't make money on those anyway.

Yeah, if it's only two or five bucks difference, you may as well go new - but for anything beyond that, I'll take used. There's just no reason to pay so much unless it's a title I'm completely ga-ga over. Splinter Cell 2 was the last new game I bought, but I think I traded stuff in to knock the price down. $50 is a lot of cha-ching.

The problem with games is that most games sell the majority of the copies that they're ever going to sell within the first two weeks of thier release. After that, the numbers take a serious nose dive, even for the most popular games. Stores then have to decide if it's worth stocking brand-new copies of a wide selection of older games that probably won't sell and won't generate much profit when they do, or to stock those older titles as used, and make more money off of them.

Really, it usually works out for both parties. Stores make more money, which allows them to stay in business. The customer who's buying that older, used game is usually looking for a deal, and used games are cheaper.

Well, here is an example where they MADE money from a used game. I picked up Syberia for the Xbox used. My wife and I loved the game and purchased the sequel on the PC sight unseen for full price brand newsky. Because I gave the previous game the time of day as a used title, they got maximum gross profit from me for the PC sequel.

I actually changed my mind at the last minute and only traded in Ninja Gaiden, Wario World and Pitfall Harry, all of those count for the deal and I knew 1080 counted as well.

So Rage if you have games from the past 3 or 4 months or so you'd be good.

Logged

"I hate cynicism -- it's my least favorite quality and it doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind amazing things will happen." - Conan O'Brien

I'm glad to see that the article I posted has generated this much discussion. I admit, I don't pick up used games very often unless it's the only way to get a game or it is significantly cheaper than used. I also admit that a $20 game is much easier to impulse buy than something for $50. Most of the time I wait.